Butt in or butt out

I have to agree with the butt out camp...

If the coin shows up it would be a completely different story. We get hundreds of phone calls a week for people asking what this coin and that coin is worth and they are going to bring them in. About a third of the time they never show up. We get crank calls from kids because they think coin collecting is dorky (I admit I am a pretty big dork) hahaha! We get quite a few people also mistaken about what they have. This case could be a myriad of things none of which I would act on unless the coin is presented to me for sale. At that point the game changes.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Butt in... BIG TIME.
The owner will either prevent a problem or purchase a nice gold coin. hehe

Cheers,

 

Exactly LD!

 

We should have set this up as a poll, those that "would butt" and those that "would not butt".

 

IT's just common sense! The General public is not parents to the to everyones child. All that simply need to be done is the dealer needs to inform the young caller to ask an adult to accompany her/him to his place of business and and you will be more than happy to assist with identification and value of the piece in question.Does there really need to be further questioning on what to do or not to do in this matter? Now for the Wrap up. If the young caller persists with what would now be deemed harassing calls, he/she should inform the young caller that any further annoyance of this type will be reported to the authorities. I'm sure this will be the End Of The Story.

 

This thread is very interesting with the reasons behind the butt in or out.

I stand by the Butt In as the worst that could happen is the parent explains he is mistaken and everyone goes on. The upside is HUGE. If stolen or if given to the child, the parent would want to know. If the child is crank calling, a good parent would want to know. the excuse to call is that the child called TWICE to sell the coin and you, the business owner are just following up.

 

If they were a Good Parent, there would be no reason to have some stranger calling to ask them " do you know what your child is doing or attempting to do" ?

 

I'm not going to touch this one.

 

No dealer in their right mind would buy any coins from someone under 18 without a parent present. As LD can verify, he will get literally hundreds of calls asking the value of a 1957 cent etc. and a lot from kids. Calling and actually coming in are two very distinctly different scenarios.

 

Are you serious? No child of a "good parent" has EVER done anything wrong?

You obviously are not a parent of a teenager.

 

I like to think that parenthood is merely a punishment for the sins of my youth and I must have been worse than I thought I was or fate had unduly and particularly fiendish punishment as I have a large family.

 

That is not what I said, nor implied. A Good Parent knows their children whether they be mischievous or a child that knows if they have a question about something, they will ask their parent first . Either way, a parent should know their children without having someone else tell them what they are doing. If I were this dealer, as I stated earlier politely inform the youngster that they must have to have an adult or parent communicate with them , unless of course they are in the store together.

 

Just mind your own business and butt out.

 

exactly

 

If people (generally speaking) didn't butt in, perhaps they would have enough time to know what their children are doing.

 

That's the point , too many kids do not have the right parental guidence they need , and 13 is an age where a lot of kids start getting into trouble , just ask yourself a question , would you want to know if your thirteen year old was trying to sell a gold coin ? I would .
rzage

 

The primary question to ask is "Why a parent isn't aware of what their children are doing". Lack of communication? Not enough Parental time? Child left alone to do as they please? Chances are if you as a parent can answer NO to these, their child would not be attempting to sell a gold coin or any coin or any item behind their back. Chances also are that if the child is doing that behind their back, the parent would believe the child over some stranger or simply totally ignore the situation altogether. Too many people doing the work of the responsible parties, only leads to more irresponsibility.

 

But....?

Vote: Do nothing until the coin and seller have been seen in the shop.

I only have two US gold coins. The first was give to me when I was about 13 by my father. Children of divorced parents sometimes do well and my father knew I collected coins. He got the coin from a roll his boss had. My 1963 blue book says the coin was worth $14.50 then and I doubt dad paid much more than wholesale. Today it costs more to buy the affection of a non-custodial kid so a bullion gold is not out of question. Assuming a 13 year old stole the coin is wrong in so many ways. Anyone who deals with the public and buys merchandise should develop a feel for whether the caller is legitimate or not. A lot can be told by the sound on the line when the dealer said that a parent would need to be involved.

Teens, be they thieves or pregnant seeking funds, probably would call a coin dealer either from their cell or someone else's phone rather than the one mom answers. Since we are assuming the kid is not on the up and up, it is likely that returning the call will not put you in contact with the parent. If the coin is actually the property of the teen, she may be negotiating permission to make the sale. I once needed to sell a bunch of silver dollars and my mom bought them from me rather than have them pass out of the family (they had been given me by my grandfather when they were worth face value). I got them back when she died 25 years later.

I don't know where you live or what relationship you have with the police but it would seem that it might be possible to talk to the officer that handles stolen property reports and see if such a coin is on the list. You might get a jerk that has no interest in being bothered by your stupid question but you might just get an excellent source that could fill you in on your rights and responsibilities with regard to stolen goods and dealing with minors just in case either subject comes up in your local ordinances. I don't know if they would be allowed to offer advice or not.

 

The good parent thing is a cop out.

I'm a good parent. We take our kids to church. I coached them in soccer. I was scoutmaster when they were in scouts. I was cubmaster when they were in cubs. I could go on and on. Found out a couple months ago that child #3 was sneaking out at night. We had no clue. By saying that all you have to do is be a "good parent" is idealistic and wrong. Kids will be kids. Does it help? Sure!!!! But there is no absolute as you have suggested.

 

I have good kids, but they still occasion to do stupid things. I am just happy they are not doing stuff as stupid as I was at that age.